23 REASONS YOU NEED A HERITAGE AGENT

If you can answer “no” to one or more of the following 23 questions, you need a Heritage Texas Properties real estate professional. By answering these questions, originally prepared by Marsha Spencer, a past commissioner of the Texas Real Estate Commission, you will come to appreciate the many services that a Heritage Texas Properties agent, who belongs to your local Board of Realtors and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics, can provide.

EVALUATING YOUR HOME

1. Do you know the current real estate market in your area so that you can set a realistic, competitive price?

2. Do you know how to add sales appeal to your home at low or moderate cost?

3. Do you know how to figure the approximate net proceeds from a sale based on types of loans, outstanding loan balance and closing costs?

MARKETING YOUR HOME

4. Do you know where to find prospective buyers or how to market your home for maximum exposure? Can you write effective ads?

5. Are you prepared to take the time that showing your home entails: handle all phone inquiries, make appointments, show the home and follow-up?

6. Are you prepared to deal with the nuisance calls and perhaps even nuisance visits at all hours?

7. Are you familiar with any unique home selling requirements in your area such as flood insurance, special zoning, etc.? Do you understand your potential liabilities if you inadvertently misrepresent the property?

QUALIFYING PROSPECTS

8. Do you know how to determine if your prospective buyers are “more curious than serious?”

9. Have you decided how you will qualify your purchaser before the contract is signed? Remember that a request for a credit report from your buyer, though not unexpected from a middleman, may be seen as untrusting when it comes from you, the seller.

10. Are you prepared to take your home off the market, perhaps for months, for a buyer who then may not be able to complete the transaction?

CONTRACT NEGOTIATION

11. Can you maintain your objectivity in responding to criticisms by the buyer and in negotiating offers and counter-offers until an agreement is reached?

12. Have you decided who will write the sales contract? If it is incorrectly written, you could find yourself in a legally or financially undesirable position.

13. Do you know what elements are necessary for a binding contract?

14. Do you have a competent and cost-effective attorney who specializes in real estate law available to you? Different types of financing require special language and/or special contract addenda.

15. Do you know how to reserve a rate and points while the transaction is under negotiation?

16. Have you decided who will coordinate required home inspections for termites, electrical, plumbing, structure, etc.?

17. Do you understand the need for earnest money and under what circumstances it should be forfeited or returned to the buyer?

FINANCING

18. Are you familiar with the 30-40 different types of home financing methods and loans available today and can you decide the type of financing that's best to expedite your sale?

19. Are you willing to help the buyer meet local financing requirements to obtain a mortgage loan?

20. Do you understand all the fees involved and how they affect your sale and proceeds?

CLOSING THE SALE

21. Do you know when you will need an appraisal and how to go about obtaining one?

22. Do you have an agreement with the buyer as to what “conveys” with the property?

23. Are you familiar with all the closing documents and procedures? Do both you and your buyer have all the necessary items to close with you so that settlement is not delayed?

If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, or if you don't have the time to attend to the myriad details of a real estate transaction, you may not be ready to undertake a “For Sale by Owner.”

Your house is probably the single largest investment you have ever made and you are right to want to realize the most return from it. Call a Heritage Texas Properties real estate professional today.